Wheelchair Accessible, Kid Friendly
At a time when local meats and produce are hailed as good for you, fried foods are often dismissed as bad for you. But frying isn't inherently bad--it just takes skill to produce items of delicacy and lightness. That expertise is on display at this Merrifield gem, where many of the best dishes emerge from the fry basket--and end on a stylish white plate or in a martini glass.
Take the crispy salmon, a moist filet encased in a crunchy shell and set on steamed jasmine rice (get it with a cup of sweet, zingy ginger sauce). Or a dish of deep-fried bay scallops tossed with basil, scallions, and red peppers. Or a variation on fishcake that mates fresh-ground fish with curry paste and becomes a sort of savory madeleine--a dunk in the accompanying cucumber sauce doesn't accentuate the flavors so much as activate them.
Also good: Elephant Jumps salad, with shredded apple, roasted coconut, shrimp, lime, and chili; spicy papaya salad; drunken noodles; fried-watercress salad.
Open daily for lunch and dinner.
